YouTube testing video fingerprinting tech to head off copyright lawsuits

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What do you do if you’re the planet’s biggest video-sharing site, and you’re getting sued for a billion dollars by Viacom for copyright infringement? Why, you get your arse into gear to develop some technology to identify dodgy vids, of course.

Google has announced that it’s testing tools to allow content owners to identify and remove copyrighted videos from YouTube. Time Warner and Disney are working with Google to test the new tech – i.e. don’t expect to find much Mickey Mouse footage on YouTube – with plans to make it available to other media firms later this year.

Will it persuade Viacom to drop its megabucks lawsuit? Who knows. Interestingly though, Google says the new tools won’t have to be used to remove vids – instead, copyright owners could identify clips using their content, and then leave them online while sharing in ad revenues.